Florida Parkland School Shooting Firsthand Accounts

February 15, 2018

Another School Shooting Rocks the United States in Florida

A shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida leaves 17 dead

Students Morgan Williams and Ivanna Paitan hid together behind their teacher’s desk as the gunman shot multiple rounds into their classroom. Just a few feet away from where they were hiding, five of their friends were shot. This is their account.

“In total, five people in my class were shot,” recalled a visibly shaking Williams. “It sounded like fireworks, and it smelled like fireworks.”

Paitan, in a strong a steady voice told reporters, “In one of the videos that was from my class that was on the news…that’s what happened to me.”

When asked what she remembered just before the shooting started, Williams said, “My teacher was in the front of the room about to get to a new part of the lesson.” Paitan injects at that moment you can hear someone down the hall banging loudly on the lockers.

When the gunfire started, both girls said neither of them had ever heard gunshots in person before, and neither expected it to sound as terrifying and as loud as it was. They recalled covering their ears and hiding under a window in the classroom.

It is then when they both realized, the spot they were in was in direct position with the classroom door. The door, fitted with glass to allow a school administrator walking the halls to see into every classroom without having to open the doors.

However, in this case, it would be the shooter being able to see into the classrooms. That is when they dashed and hid behind their teacher’s desk. Williams recalls looking up from the desk and seeing the glass of the door shattered.

She kept her head down.

The Aftermath of The Shooting

Later, Williams remembers seeing her teacher covered in blood as students in her class had been shot. She sat watching police officers carry out the ones injured, but she saw one girl who was lying face down and wasn’t moving.

When they were ordered by police to run out of the school, Williams said she was shocked by the size of the bullet casings and shattered glass which littered the hallway of the school just outside of her classroom.

The following video contains live footage taken by students’ cell phones. Williams and Paitan relive their horrific experience as the gunman opened fire into their classroom.